Life Threat
by bonesweet21
Summary: Booth is suddenly sick. What is his conection with the new case he and Bones were working?
1. A New Case

_I hope you like this new story. It had been written a long time ago, but i never post it. _

_Thanks to my beta reader Luvda29, for her help in edditing this chapter, and for convincing me _

_to post it. Thanks!!!_

**A New Case**

Booth was feeling bad this day. He already vomited his breakfast before he had left home. He seriously considered staying home, under the sheets, but discarded the idea because of her. He drove while his head was continued to spin. What the hell was wrong with him? He usually didn't get sick, only occasional migraines. He had planned to stay in his office and do some paper work, but apparently the rotten corpses wouldn't agree with him, so he was on his way to the Jeffersonian to pick her up.

After a little more than 15 minutes he was entering the Jeffersonian Medico-Legal area. He saluted the security guards on the security post and walked in. He was rubbing his temples while walking into her office, not noticing that she was watching him.

"Booth, are you feeling alright?" He voice was calm but filled with concern.

He tried to give her one of his trade mark smiles, "Yeah."

"You don't look so well to me," she looked at him and smiled knowing that he was lying.

He knew that she recognized that he was not as well as he claimed to be, so he was trying to find something to calm her down. "I… I… didn't sleep well last night.

She still wasn't sure whether or not to believe him. "All right then, let me pick up my bag and we can get going."

He watched her enter into her office returning just a minute later with her bags. In silence they walked together into the parking lot. On the way he just drove while she looked at him worried. She knew him very well. He was not all right and she knew it, but until he decided to confide in her, she just had to wait for him.

After 45 silent minutes, they arrive at the crime scene. She walked directly to the decomposing body while he talked with the local policeman. She was too busy concentrating on examining the skull, that she didn't see him standing at her side.

"What do we have Bones?" He asked her in a low calm voice.

"35 to 40 year old male, time of death approximately 3 weeks ago." He wrote the information rapidly into his colorful cards.

"Cause of death?" She looked into the skull and signaled to a hole.

"It seems a gun shoot to the back of the head," She laid the skull down again and stood up scanning the surrounding area.

"Hey Bones I'm going to talk to the forensic group, if you need anything just call."

"Ok," She said and continued watching Booth while he went over to the forensic FBI team. She was sure that something was happening with him, but wasn't quite sure of what.

Nearly an hour later, both of them were ridding back toward the lab. Booth took a quick glance at his watch and smiled, turning to glance at her and watching her write her initial report.

"Bones, are you hungry?" He asked knowing the answer.

"Not really, did you want to eat?" She stole a quick glance at him and smiled.

"Well, not really, but I know that you missed lunch when I left you in the Jeffersonian."

"Well, all right then. Let's grab a salad at the diner." She told him and closed the report, deciding to watch him instead.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Booth didn't eat anything at the diner. He ordered a piece of cherry pie but didn't eat it.

"Seeley, are you all right?" She decided to ask him.

He looked funny to her, because of the way she called him. "Yeah."

"I don't think you are telling the truth. You seem sick to me." She put the fork on her plate and looked into his eyes.

"Ok. Why?" He asked crossing his arms in front of him.

"Let's see," she put a finger to her lips and smiled at him. "You look pale, didn't order your usual burger and didn't eat the pie you ordered. You look tired, and your hands are shaking. Do I have to continue?" She smiled at him.

"Ok Bones you win." Then he sat with his head between his hands looking at her. "My head is killing me. I can't eat anything without throwing it up. I couldn't sleep last night. I really feel sick."

"But why didn't you just stay home?" She took his hands in hers.

Booth smiled at the reaction filled with affection. "I hate being sick. Since I was a kid I never let anything stop me from doing the things that I was supposed to do."

"Really?" She said looking amused.

"Yeah. Unless I'm in the hospital." He replied smiling to her remembering the time he was at the hospital due to the explosion and got out just to save her.

"Why you don't you go to a doctor?" Booth watched her concerned expression and smiled.

"I hate doctors even more than I hate being sick. I'll go if I don't get better." He returned her smile and gave her hand a gentle squeeze.

Booth paid the bill, and left for the lab. She was worried about him, and wasn't sure why, but something inside of her was telling her that something was wrong. When they arrived at the lab, she got out of the car and watched him drive away. She convinced him to get some rest, but he made her promise him that if something important was discovered about the case she would notify him.


	2. The Soldier

_Hi!_

_Thanks for all replies and for the favorites story, and thanks to LUVDA29 for her help editing the story. Hope you still like it!!! Enjoy._

Chapter #2: **The soldier  
**  
She entered his house silently, using the key she knew was under the fake rock on the right side of his door. Everything was dark and silent. She called him a few times throughout the afternoon. She called mostly to check on him and to inform him that she was going to check on him when she was finished with work. She wanted to let him know so she didn't surprise him.

As quietly as possible on his creaky hard wood floor, she went to his bedroom and opened the door to look inside. He was turned to his side and for a moment she thought he was still asleep, when his voice made her jump.

"Hey you," he said and rested his back on the pillows.

"How are you feeling?" She asked as she walked toward him smiling, recovering from the scare of his voice. She sat down on the bed and smiled.

"Like I'm on a Caribbean vacation." She looked at him cautiously, and noticed he looked worse than he had a few hours ago. Bones touched his forehead, he was burning.

"Booth you should go to the hospital. I don't like this. You are burning up." She said worried.

Booth replied in a tired calm voice. "It's ok, I'm fine. Tomorrow I will be just fine."

She saw determination in his eyes and knew that he wouldn't leave his house. "I'm going to stay with you, Booth."

"You don't have to Bones, I'm fine." He tried to sit up in the bed, but her hands held him down.

"No Booth I'm staying."

Booth took a breath and stopped arguing. He doesn't want to be alone and quite frankly he was not feeling well at all. She made him take a cold bath in an effort to lower the fever while she made something to eat for him. When he comes out of his room, she saw he had put on some of his winter clothes. He walked to her slowly resting his right hand on the wall to steady himself.

"Are you hungry?" Bones asked as she spotted him walking toward the couch.

Booth didn't answer he just moved his head up and down and continued toward the couch at slow pace.

"That's great because I make some soup," she replied and walked toward the kitchen to pour some soup in a cup for him.

When she returned to the living room, he was sitting on the couch with his head resting on the back of the couch and his eyes closed. Apparently he sensed her, because he opened his eyes when she was near him and gave her a little smile. She returned the smile and gave him a cup filled with the soup she had made for him.

Booth took the cup and took a sip. "What did you find out about the bones we found today?"

Bones smiled while searching for a file she brought with her. "Let's see."

Name: James Smithson  
Age: 36  
Occupation: Army Ranger retired in 2001.  
Time of death: Two weeks ago.

Booth let the cup of soup slip a little when he heard the name.

"Booth, are you alright?" She asked taking the cup from his hand, noticing that his hands were suddenly cold.

"Yes... it's nothing the cup slipped a little." He took a deep breath. "Continue."

Bones watched him for a few minutes, and then decided to complete reading the report for him.

"So he died from a gun shot to the head." He said when she finally finished the report.

"Well, Cam and Jack were doing some tests to be sure that he was killed by a gun shot to his head. The official report will be finished by tomorrow afternoon." Bones look worriedly to Booth. His eyes were closed. "Are you ok?"

"Fine."

"Booth, there's something I want to tell you. This guy had the same torture wounds that you have in you feet. Did you know him?" She felt Booth tense when she revealed the lesions on his feet.

"No," he said simply.

"Are you sure?" By now she could read him perfectly and knew that he was lying.

"Yes, I'm sure," he said closing his eyes again.

"Also Booth, Cullen has been thinking that this murder had to do with another military body that had been found two weeks ago." Booth opened his eyes again and stared at her suspiciously.

"Which one? The one that was found in the Arlington Cemetery?" Booth asked with a surprised voice.

"Yeah. Tomorrow an FBI group will be searching their homes."

"But, Larry's death was a suicide. That was what the county coroner said in his report." He said amused.

Bones looking confused by the familiarity he had of the case and the victim. "Yeah, that was our initial finding, but Jack find traces of venom in the body that can changes the suicide to a murder."

"But how did Jack get the samples?" Booth didn't know that part of the story.

"The police department sent the samples earlier today claiming that they couldn't ID some substances in the samples. We help them ID unusual samples." She said in a calm voice. That was one part of their job that Booth didn't know about.

Both of them sat in silence when Bren started to see that Booth looked uncomfortable.

"Do you want to go to the bed?" She asked wanting him to be resting instead of worrying about the case.

"Yes," he replied with a voice that was uncharacteristic. Weak and vulnerable, full of exhaustion.

Bones helped him to get to the bed and watched him settle in the bed as she exited the room. He was keeping something from her about the deaths. He seemed nervous about it. She wanted to know what, but right now she knew that it was not the best time for prodding. She would have to wait.

She was planning to do some research the rest of the night, but Booth had other plans. First, he vomited the little soup that he could eat, and then his fever started going back up. She was worried, really worried. He was trembling and talking in his sleep. He continued saying the same thing… Kosovo… No… It's my fault… It was me…

Brennan woke up early the next morning. She couldn't fall asleep until 5 AM. She just sat there watching him, but at least he was resting. She slept for 2 hours when her phone alarm woke her up. She laid her hand upon his hair watching him with enormous care. She never imagined that she would ever see him so vulnerable, so sick. As she slowly patted his hair he opened his eyes.

"Hey. How do you feel?"

Booth tried to sit up, but Bones pinned him on the bed. "Better. What time is it? I have to go to work."

Bones looked at his alarm clock "It's 7:28 but don't even think about it. You are not going to work today. I can call Cullen on my way to the lab to let him know that you are not going to the office today."

"You think that I'm not going to work today because of a little bad night?" Brennan released her grip on him and he once again tried to sit up.

"A little bad night?! Did you think that all of this wasn't a bad night? You are talking nonsense Booth. I was wiping you forehead all night. You were delirious because of the high fever you had. So don't even think that you are going to work today," Bones stood at his side and gave him a serious yet concerned look while both of her arms were crossed in front of her chest. He knew he wouldn't win this one.

"But Bones, I have some pending issues at the office, and I also have to pick Parker up from school, and this case. Look, I promise to come home quick, just let me get into the office. I will stay there all day." He gave her his best smile, but only came out grimly.

"Booth you only got 3 hours of sleep last night. You still have a fever. You need to stay home and rest." Bones sat on his bed and looked at him with an enormous amount of care. Bones smiled as she felt his body relax and knew that he would stay.

"Booth please, stay at home and rest. Call Cullen to let him know that you are not going to work today. Then if you feel better you can go pick Parker up at school. I don't think that in your condition, you can take care of a 5 year old boy all weekend.

Bones knew that with her last statement, she was going to win. Booth was going to stay at home. Booth thought about everything she said to him. She was right.

If he didn't rest, he would have to relinquish his weekend with Parker and take him to Rebecca's.

Booth gave her a deep sigh and let his body fall back on the pillow. "Can you hand me the phone?" He asked her and she gave him a grateful smile as she handed him his phone.

Bones stayed with him in the room until he finished the call to Cullen calling in sick for the day. She took the phone back and put it on the night stand.

"Are you satisfied now?" Booth asked her as she returned to his side.

"Almost," she replied simply.

"What else do you want?" Booth felt his eyes getting heavier and he fought to keep them open.

"That you go to a doctor."

"But I feel better now," Booth said trying to stand up but couldn't, and he just feel back against the pillows.

"Booth, please stay in bed and rest. If you can't pick up Parker at school, I will go for you, just call me."

Booth smiled tiredly, "Really? Will you do that for me?" Bones pulled up his covers and gave him a kiss on the forehead.

"Of course I will. You have done many things for me. Now rest, I will call you later to see how you are doing."

Booth simply shook his head up and closed his eyes falling asleep almost immediately.


	3. Where are you?

_Thanks for all the reviews, and special thanks to Felicia for taking the time to editing the story for my. Thanks!!!_

**_Where are you?  
_**  
Booth looked at his side table clock. He had at least two hours before he had to pick Parker up at school. After a wave of dizziness hit him again, he let his body slip against the cool pillows and closed his eyes. He hadn't eaten anything all day, but he didn't want to attempt it after what happened before.

Meanwhile, Brennan had been working all morning with the remains found the previous day. She had already established the cause of death as a gun shot to the back of the head, but according to Jack and Cam, if the victim had  
miraculously survived the gun shot wound, he would already be dead because a high level of venom that had been in his system.

"Dr. Brennan, the victim would be dead by this time anyway. There were high levels of some strange venom that I can't identify," Jack said almost frustrated with his results.

"Thanks," Bones replied absently, almost as if she hadn't heard Jack. She wouldn't make eye contact with either of them.

Cam watched her for a few seconds. "Are you okay, Dr. Brennan? You seem tired."

"I didn't sleep well last night. But I'm all right. I should be able to sleep more tonight." As she spoke, she thought of the previous night she spent taking care of Booth and she smiled.

After finishing her evaluation, she gave the intern some instructions regarding the cleaning of the bones, and walked to her office. It was strange to be there, working on an FBI case, and knowing that he wouldn't be coming to the lab. She sat at her desk and opened some files that needed reviewing; she grabbed an energy bar from her desk and began to eat.

While she was signing some forensic reports, she could only think about Booth and whether or not he was okay. For some strange reason she couldn't stop thinking about him. She stole a quick glance at her watch. He would already  
have picked Parker up from school and was probably on their way back to the apartment. She decided to call him in a few minutes, to make sure he was alright.

10 minutes passed and as she was about to speed dial Booth her phone rang.

"Brennan," she asked in a monotone voice that clearly sounded like an exasperated one.

"Excuse me Dr. Brennan, its Rebecca Stinson, Parker Booth's mom." The voice of a woman she had spotted only a few times during her partnership with Booth came through the phone.

"Hi," was the only word Bones could mutter under the circumstances.

"Sorry for interrupting you, but I was looking for Seeley, is he with you?" The voice on the phone sounded worried, and that caused a sinking feeling within the pit of Bones' stomach.

"No… I think that he is with Parker."

"Parker just called me, Seeley never showed up. Listen, I'm going to pickParker up at school. If you hear from him, can you please tell him to call me, to make arrangements to pick Parker up later."

"Ok, I will." While she was talking with Rebecca, Bones started running to her car. Inside her, she felt that something was horribly wrong. Booth would NEVER forget to pick up Parker.

She drove like a crazy person to his place. She called him constantly on her way to his home, never stopping, but he wasn't picking up. Finally after the 30 minute drive that seemed like hours, she parked in front of the building  
and ran toward his door.

When she finally arrived, she saw that the door was opened slightly. She entered slowly but saw that no one was there. She called his name several times but got no answer. When she entered into the center of the living room, what she saw scared her, evidence of what had happened. She began to picture what had. She reached for the phone frantically and with her hand shaking dialed.

"FBI Dispatch."

"This is Dr. Temperance Brennan… Send agents to Agent Booth's house… he has been kidnapped." Bones' voice was filled with worry as she spoke.

Bones circled around to see all of Booth's possessions spilled on the floor. She saw red blotches on the walls and puddles on the floor. Like that night in her apartment, she began to lose control over her respiration, but this time Booth wasn't thereto comfort her, to let her know everything would be okay. She was sure the blood was Booth's. She knew that he would never go  
without a fight.

"Booth… what happened here… where are you?" She screamed while half a dozen FBI agents began entering the house. Cullen was leading them. His facial expression was one she had never seen before.


	4. Priorities

_Sorry for the delay, i've been sick this past week. Answering one of the replies i get for the last chapter, i have the story completed, but still it have to undergo editting by my betta reader, Felicia._

_Thanks for your replies. I will post the next chapter tomorow morning, if i receive more reviews that the past two. Please, be good and feed my musy!!!!_

**_Priorities  
_**  
Bones helped the FBI collect the evidence found in Booth's house. All of the evidence was in possession of the FBI and she began frustrated because she wanted to get to work as soon as possible. She needed the blood samples. She had to be certain that the blood didn't belong to him, even though she assumed the blood was his, she was going to wait until she had all the facts.

She drove absent-minded back to the lab. She pulled into the garage and into her usual spot and sat inside the car with her face between her hands. This wasn't possible. This wasn't happening. Booth had to be fine... he was going to be fine.

She spent the next ten minutes calming her nerves before she entered the lab. She directed her steps toward Cam's office.

"Cam may I?" Bones said, as she saw Cam speaking on the phone.

Cam made a movement with her hand, indicating Brennan to wait for her.

"May I help you?" Cam replied as she hung up the phone and signed a paper in front of her.

"I need you to analyze these samples," Bones said as she laid the blood samples on her desk.

"I'm leaving right now Dr. Brennan, but I can make it my priority tomorrow morning…" For the first time, Cam looked directly into Brennan's face. Her eyes were red, an obvious sign that she was restraining herself from crying again. "Is there a problem, Dr. Brennan?"

"Cam those samples are our first priority," Bones replied after composing herself.

Cam interrupted Bones' explanation. "May I ask why?"

Bones took a deep breath, a single tear running down her right check. "Booth," she answered simply near a whisper, she couldn't say more than that.

She couldn't say it. She had to be strong. She had to put all the pain that she was feeling inside away. Searching for the remaining energy left in her body, she said, "I think it's Agent Booth's blood. He…he was kidnapped this afternoon."

-o-o-o-o-o-

Three weeks had passed since Booth's disappearance. There had been no word from him. No eyewitnesses, no sightings. Nothing to go on. There were no suspects. All police stations had been informed and all the FBI offices had been searching for any information regarding him, but they had no luck.

The blood found in the apartment had been identified as Booth's, but they also found traces of other DNA, different than Booth that they couldn't identify. Once the kidnap was confirmed, Bones and the Jeffersonian took Booth's case as their top priority. Bones made Jack test Booth's blood samples for anything unusual, but only found that Booth indeed was sick during  
the kidnapping, and Jack had id the same strange substance that he had been trying to id, but can't.

With Jack's help, they identified all of the military bodies they had been working on the past few months. They discovered all of the men were integrants of a special mission, in which Booth had been their ranking officer. The details of the mission hadn't been revealed, but at least they had facts that linked the killings to Booth's kidnapping.

Bones was sitting on the cold floor of her apartment. Until he was gone, she never realized how much she needed him. Since that day, she hadn't slept. She sat on the floor by her phone every night waiting for that one call. But that call never came. Bones couldn't shake him from her mind and she imagined where he was at that moment and whether or not he was really okay.

But tonight was different. She was about to move to her bedroom to attempt sleep when her phone rang and she hurried to pick it up.

"Brennan," she said breathing heavily, waiting to hear his voice on the other end.

"Dr. Brennan, its Deputy Director Cullen." Cullen paused far longer than Brennan would have liked and that scared her.

"What happened?" She asks, trying to contain her emotions, but she couldn't contain her tone and she was nearly shouting at him.

"I need you at the Jeffersonian right away."

This can't be happening, it's not real, she thought silently. "Excuse me sir, may I ask why?"

Another silence from Cullen made her nervous. Her brain started to reel with different explanations for the silences, but the one thing that she kept coming back to was Booth. Something was wrong. If he was asking her to go to the Jeffersonian at 11 PM there had to be a good explanation.

"You found him," she said in a whisper, not wanting to hear his answer.

After the silence was broken he said, "We're not sure. We found a body."

Cullen didn't know if it was a good idea to call her. He knew about that "special" friendship between her and Booth, but he knew that if anyone would be able to solve the case it was her.

"Where?" She asked, as she let her body sink into the couch.

-o-o-o-o-o-o

She arrived at the Jeffersonian in no time. She made it clear to Cullen that she and only she would examine the body. When she arrived at the lab, Hodgins, Angela, Zack and Cam were there. She wanted to know why they were there, but it was obvious that they all cared for Booth. He was their friend. The all sat in Brennan's office for about 30 minutes just waiting. In that time they all shared some memories about Booth. By the end all of them were deeply sorrowed. Small, silent tears fell from everybody's eyes as they stood up as the body  
arrived.

The all stepped on the platform and they saw a half dozen FBI agents carry a stretcher with the remains inside a black body bag. At front in the center was Cullen. The remains were placed on the table with so much care, as if there was a living person inside that bag. Cullen looked directly to Brennan.

"Please make this identification your #1 priority," he said to her.

There was no need for him to tell her that, but she knew how much he cared for Booth. Taking on a fast pace, Cullen left the lab, followed closely by the FBI agents.

Brennan opened the bag slowly. For the first time in her life, she was trembling. Why? This was not the first set of human remains that she has analyzed. When she finally opened the whole bag, the remains were exposed. She took her recorder out of her coat pocket and started the examination. Meanwhile Hodgins, Cam, Zack and Angela retreated. They knew that she wanted to do the identification alone.

She spoke slowly into the recorder as if she doesn't want to.

"35 year old. Male. Estimated time of death two weeks ago." She stopped until all the facts suggested that the remains could in fact belong to Booth, but she didn't want that to be true. For the first time in her life, she didn't want to trust the facts. Her heart was telling her that he was alive.

45 minutes later she covered the remains and stepped away. They are all waiting in her office. She went directly to her chair and sat, setting all the papers and the recorder in front of her and closed her eyes. Angela slowly kneeled beside her.

"Sweetie," Angela said as she gently smoothed her hair.

"I can't ID the remains Angela" Brennan finally said, taking deep breaths.

"I know this is difficult for you…" Angela was saying but Brennan spoke in an angry rage that Angela had never seen before.

"You don't understand… I don't like to think that those remains are from…" she stopped, she couldn't even think of it. "I can't ID them, Angela."

"What are you talking about?" Cam asked as the rest of the squint squad circled Brennan.

"The remains were burned with an accelerant. The teeth are gone, and the skull was broken into tiny pieces…"

"Sweetie I can still do a portrait." Angela said but Brennan interrupted again.

"That part of the skull was missing," she said while tears began to run down her checks.

They all looked at Brennan in shock. "If those remains belong to him," she said with a huge effort to contain herself. "We can't be sure. Right now, I can't ID them."


	5. Hope

_Here is the next chapter, as I promise yesterday. Thanks for all the replies and your comments. And to Felicia, thanks for helping me, you are the BEST!!!!_

**_HOPE_**

Bones lay on her couch in her office. She was thinking about him again. She was thinking back on how many times she had told him to sleep on his own couch, but now she smiled at the memory. She has spent the past few hours imagining how to ID the body that lay on the platform.

All of the squints were peering over the body. Usually, they would be talking about something, anything, but with this case they couldn't utter any words. You could see the pain and sorrow in their faces. Her mind was working fast, and she tried to quiet her thoughts by closing her eyes and thinking of the times that they spent together. She smiled at the memory of her sitting by his side when he got drunk or the time she shot him by mistake. When he hadn't come into work the next day, she realized how hurt he really was. And right now, even with all of her degrees and acquired knowledge, she felt completely useless.

Jack shook Bones a little, to make sure that she was paying attention to him when he spotted her lying on her couch. She woke up right away, not even realizing she had fallen asleep.

"Sorry, I don't know what happened," she said to him. "Did you find something?"

"Well actually yes. But I want to discuss it with you first." Jack sat down in front of her with a file in his hands.

"What is it?"

"Well, the time of death is 2 weeks ago. Cam found some tissue on one of the vertebrates, so she ran a DNA test, and we found this," Jack said slipping a photo from the file and gave it to Bones.

"His name is Bret Jackson, he is 35, and has military training. He was reported missing 5 weeks ago." Brennan did the math in her head. If the report was filed 5 weeks ago, and he was killed 2 weeks ago, he was alive for 3 weeks after the kidnapping was reported. Booth had been missing for 3 weeks.

"Also," Jack interrupted her thinking; he had done the math in his own mind as well. "We compared all the data we got from the other two bodies, and they have several similarities. I'm going to compare them with what we got from the last unsolved death that involves military. We believe that they are related." Jack said gaining a little smile from her. The first smile  
since this ordeal began. They had hope again.

In the afternoon, all the squints gathered together in Angela's office.

"Well, here are all the facts that we got from the bodies," Angela started the graphic display and all the data flowed in front of them.

"All of the bodies had torture wounds," Bones said, breaking the deadly silence between them.

"But no defensive wounds," Zack added.

"What does that tell us?" Angela asked.

"They could have been drugged or…" Zack began, but was interrupted by Bones.

"Tied," Brennan said. "If they had military training, they would fight back, but if they were tied, they would be restrained from doing so."

"But they don't have any marks on their wrists or ankles," Zack said.

"So, we should assume they were drugged. That would explain the mixture of chemical compounds that we found in the remains. I can't ID them because there  
wasn't enough tissue to do the test," Jack said.

Bones looked to the clock. Until that morning she was thinking that by now, if the facts were correct, Booth was dead. She mentally kicked herself for assuming the worst. She needed to focus on the facts. If the deaths were related, then Booth was still alive.

"I found some particles in the first two bodies. It's some kind of sand. I identified the source of it. The sand can be found in the northern Virginia area. But in the last body, the particulates are different. It's a type of gravel. Also, it was found with a strange type of grass."

Brennan thought rapidly. Booth had a serious grass allergy, being in an environment like that would have been torture enough.

"So, we can say that the first two bodies were in the same place. Booth would be held in the same place as this body…"Cam couldn't tell that. She couldn't imagine that Booth was dead… "They do everything in twos?"

"We can't jump to that conclusion," Zack said with a serious expression.

"That make sense," Bones said. She had spent so much time with Booth that sometimes their thoughts were identical.

"I think I found something" Angela interrupted happily.

"What it is Ange?" Bones asked feeling a sudden rush inside her.

"Well I found a place in Highland in Monterey, near Augusta." Jack looked for the map and nodded.

"She is right. This place has the right combination of the grass and the soil I found on the last body."

Brennan was calling Cullen as they spoke. She already had told him the information they had gained. "I'm going with you," She said firmly over the phone, her coworkers watch her face of emotions.

"No, I don't care if you don't want… I can search the places on my own… I'm going and you are not going to stop me…"

By the time she ended the conversation, all the squints were puzzled. They didn't say anything.

"I'm sorry, I can't just wait here," she said trying not to hold her emotions at bay, trying not to get her hopes up.

"It's ok Bren, we understand," Angela said and she smiled, and without hesitation they all ran to the parking lot, and drove to Augusta, hoping they would find Booth there.

The trip took 40 minutes, and by the time they arrived, the FBI were already making plans to get inside.

"You are not going in, and that's final," Cullen said looking directly to Bones. "I don't care if you have a gun."

Brennan looked directly into his eyes and was going to say something to him, but something stopped her. Cullen had pulled her away from the others, and started talking to her in a calm low voice, that to her sounded full of concern for her.

"Look, I know that you are really worried about him believe me, I am too. But for the first time, let us do our job. He would never forgive me if something happened to you." Brennan could see the honesty behind his words, but she didn't want to be left in the dark.

"But…"

"Let's make a deal, Dr. Brennan. When we secure the area, I'll let you go inside, ok?"

She didn't like it, but she new that Cullen was breaking the rules by letting them come in the first place.

"Ok, it's a deal."

Cullen smiled at her and walked over to the FBI and SWAT teams that were grouping and preparing to enter the building.

Fifteen long minutes passed, until she saw the movement of the mission starting. All the squints were moved to a secure area, and only Brennan remained near the tact groups.

As the mission continued, she heard a scream and shoots coming from the old, secluded house located in the hill. For ten agonizing minutes, she moved  
forward and backward waiting for the signal.

"Send the paramedics in, hurry. We got him." Brennan heard the scared voice of Cullen on the radio in front of her. She ran at full speed into the house.

Once inside, she immediately called for Booth, waiting for a reply that never came. Then she heard Cullen cry for help.

"We need help. Down here."

She looked down and saw a trap door with stairs leading down. She carefully went down and saw them.

"Just hold on Booth… you can do it… just hold on…" She saw Cullen and other FBI agents applying pressure to three wounds in his chest, neck and stomach, while another agent was performing CPR to try to make him breathe again.

"He isn't responding, sir."


	6. Decisions

**_Decisions  
_**  
"Hey… I'm here," she said to him as she fell to the ground, cradling his head in her hands.

"Don't do this to me, Booth. Breathe," she said shaking him as if to grab him from his unconsciousness.

"We need to stop the bleeding," Cullen said worried. She could see Booth's blood pooling from beneath him.

Then, the paramedics rushed inside the room and quickly shoved all of the people surrounding him away. They covered Booth's wounds in an attempt to stop the bleeding. The turned him over and Brennan grimaced at what she saw. There were 2 stab wounds one in him lower back and the other in the middle of his back. The all looked to each other, and knew that this couldn't be good.

"We need a medivac right away," one of the paramedics said as his partner began to put a breathing tube into Booth's throat.

"Is he going to make it?" Brennan asked, scared as Cullen left the basement to make a phone call for a medivac.

"We can't be sure ma'am; he's in really bad shape."

The talking stopped when they heard the helicopter flying over the house. By then, Cullen had arrived to let them know that the helicopter was waiting for them as soon as they were ready.

In three minutes, they had finished setting Booth on the stretcher and rolled him out to the helicopter. According to the paramedics, she wouldn't be able to ride with him, but Cullen argued with them that she wouldn't let him go.

The paramedics reluctantly agreed to let both of them ride with Booth, knowing that they were breaking policy. Brennan jumped into the helicopter after Booth was put on, and she immediately grabbed his hand and began whispering to him in his ear. Cullen climbed in after her and knew that she wasn't going to leave his side any time soon, and he was going to stay with  
her.

Cullen watched Brennan during the flight and saw how she cared for Booth and he could see her genuine concern for him in her eyes. Cullen couldn't help but admit that Brennan had changed so much over the past few years … because  
of Booth. It was a miracle. He thought she wasn't capable of a love and care for any person, but was amazed by her transformation.

By the time they arrived at the hospital, 6 FBI agents were waiting for them on the roof along with medical personnel. Cullen had explained to Bones that they had killed two people in the house during the operation, but according to the last words of one of them, their instructions were to wait until he died to move the body to another location so the police could find him. Brennan was heart broken by that information; they had not found all of the people that did this to him, and because some of them had gotten away she was livid, especially at the fact that they left Booth there to die in a pool of his own blood.

Because of that Cullen had issued an order to provide 24 hours of constant security for Booth. He wasn't going to take any chances. When the paramedics were taking Booth out of the helicopter, his heart just stopped beating.

"We're losing him," were the last words that Brennan and Cullen heard before the staff ran Booth toward the elevator and he disappeared leaving Cullen and Bones standing in the roof of the hospital worried. Brennan let out a strangled sob and she would have collapsed to the group if Cullen hadn't been standing right beside her.

After a few minutes, Brennan was able to compose herself and they found their way to the emergency room. There was no sign of Booth or the agents who were guarding him. A nurse called them and led the way into a small sitting area in  
which both of them were left alone. Cullen continued to explain things to her so she could prepare herself for what was going to happen next.

"We are at the Bethesda Naval Hospital," he said to her.

"But why? There are plenty of good hospitals near the house where we found him." She asked in a serious tone.

She continued arguing with him until Cullen raised his hand to her, making her stop.

"I know that Dr. Brennan, but right now, he's in the best place he can be right now. Here we can place him under protection. That's what he needs most right now, without any questions asked, without raising any suspicions. It was an order that he be admitted to this hospital, not a request, an order."

Brennan nodded. She knew he was right. In that moment, Booth needed all of the medical attention and security possible. She wasn't going to fight with them about that.

Nearly an hour passed without anyone coming to inform them on Booth's condition. Brennan took the time and called Angela. Cullen gave her authorization to tell them were they had taken Booth. After all, they were the ones that found out where Booth was being held. She made Angela promise that they wouldn't come to the hospital, and she assured them that she would call  
them as soon as she heard anything about Booth's condition. By the time she hung up, two doctors entered the room, sitting right in front of them.

"I'm Dr. Stone. Are you relatives of the agent?" The doctor asked as he placed a thick file on the coffee table that separated them.

"I'm his boss. Deputy Director Cullen of the FBI and she is Dr. Brennan…" Cullen paused, not knowing how to introduce her. "His partner." That was a safe way to introduce her, he thought.

"We need to contact a relative of Agent Booth's. There are some decisions to make regarding his wellbeing. Agent Booth is very incompetent right now, and if there are any kin nearby it would be best to contact them as soon as possible." The doctor said and Cullen began to retrieve some documents from the inner pocket of his jacket.

"Excuse me, but Agent Booth has a medical release order in which he authorized Dr. Brennan to make such decisions." Bones looked puzzled, not completely believing what she had just heard.

Cullen handed them the authorization papers and turned to face a stunned Brennan. "As you see, she can make any decision regarding his medical care."

Brennan nodded, and lowered her head feeling as if there was a weight holding her down, pressurizing her. She was now responsible for making his decision. Life and death decisions. She wasn't prepared for this. She was never  
prepared for this. She never imagined living without Booth. She wasn't ready to do this, she couldn't do this.

"Well, in that case," the doctor said once he had finished reviewing the papers.

"He's in the OR. We are treating him there because of the  
conditions of his wounds; he has one gun shoot wound in the stomach and other in his chest. Three stab wounds two in the back and one in the neck."

"Were any internal organs affected?" Brennan asked seriously in her scientific tone.

"To be frank, yes," Dr. Stone said. "The stomach, lungs, heart, liver and kidney as far we know. But all of those injuries had to do with some severe beating."

"So, all of the organs were compromised?" Cullen asked.

The doctor simply agreed with a single nod of his head and continued explaining the rest of his injuries. "He also has a complete fracture of his left clavicle and a shoulder separation; his left knee Is also fractured. Also, we have discovered that he has re fractured his feet."

Brennan let out a sob while she put her face between her hands. She felt Cullen place his hand over her shoulder to comfort her and she just looked sadly to him with tears in her eyes.

"Right now, we are more concerned with his head injury." Brennan let go of her face and looked at both doctors directly.

"A head injury? What are you talking about?" Brennan asked, confused.

"When he came in, we performed an emergency CT scan and MRI. We discovered some swelling between the skull and the brain. The hemorrhage produced blood clots that are rising in his inter cranium pressure."

Cullen didn't understand the medical mumbo-jumbo, but by the look on Brennan's face told him that whatever was happening was not good.

"We need to do a craniotomy immediately to release the pressure and remove the clots."

"What are the possible complications of the procedure?" Brennan asked in a low voice, preparing herself for what she already knew.

"According to his tox screen, they gave him some drug that liquefied his blood," the doctor started explaining, but Brennan had to raise her voice to stop him.

"So are you telling us that he could bleed to death?" She asked angrily.

"It's possible," the doctor started again, but Brennan cut him off again.

"But if he doesn't have the surgery he would die anyway," the doctor lowered his head, never having to deal with a person like her before. He usually hated telling people about injuries and prognosis; he hated it even more when the patient was in bad shape. Nothing could prepare him for that, especially a forensic anthropologist who knew everything before he had the chance to explain it to her.

"There are other complications for this procedure as well," the doctor said.

"Possible brain damage, memory loss or loss mental functions, possible reactions to the medications, I already knew all that," Bones said in her natural monotone voice.

Brennan stood up and started pacing, trying to analyze everything, knowing that she had to make the best decision for Booth, but by the look on Cullen's face she knew that there was no time to wait. She had to make a quick decision without completing analyzing all of the facts.

"Do it. I'll sign the consent form," she said to the doctor, not knowing the consequences of those words, but hoping that she had made the right decision.

The doctor stood up and left. A minute later, a nurse entered the room with a consent form and the authorization for the procedure. After Brennan read the paper thoroughly she signed the paper in her neat print. As she signed it a  
pain in her heart started to consume her energy.

Cullen excused himself and left of the room, noticing that she needed to be alone for a few minutes to digest the information they had been given. A few minutes later, he arrived with two cups of coffee.

"Thanks," she said grabbing the hot cup.

"Do you know how long the operation will last?" Cullen asked watching her in silence.

"I really don't know, but I think a few hours. He lost a lot of blood," she said and Cullen saw tears running down her face.


	7. Alive

**_Alive_**

It was nine in the morning when the doctor returned to the room looking tired. Cullen left a few minutes ago because he had to return to FBI headquarters to make some arrangements for Booth's security. Brennan was alone, and for the first time, she wanted someone with her.

"How is he?" she asked, standing to meet the doctor.

"We removed most of the clots and stopped the bleeding in his brain. Right now, the pressure inside his brain is still very high, but hopefully, it will go down in a few days." Brennan nodded.

"What about his other injuries?"

"He had severe internal bleeding and we took care of that and hope that the bleeding doesn't start again. Right now, we are getting him settled into the ICU. He's not out of the woods yet. There is still a chance that he may not  
make it. Right now, the only thing we can assure you is that he is stable under the circumstances."

"May I see him?" She asked, but it came out sounding more like an order.

"Just for a minute," the doctor replied politely and both of them stood from the uncomfortable chairs and began moving into the hallways of the hospital.

"I want to stay with him," she said bluntly, not wanting to start a fight with the doctor.

"You can't stay in the ICU Dr. Brennan, it's hospital policy."

Brennan didn't like the tone the doctor used so she picked up her phone and dialed a number. During the minutes that it took them to get to the ICU, she had already ended the conversation. The doctor couldn't understand what she  
was saying, but he knew that she was trying to break the rules, and he was completely confident that the hospital will retain the word on that.

She was putting the phone in her pocket, when she saw two agents standing in front of the corridor that led toward the ICU. As she passed them, she nodded to them in recognition. She had spotted them in the FBI office while she was visiting him. When she finally spotted the room, she saw a glass wall. She tried to look inside, but they had covered the glass with some film to avoid people from looking inside the room to maintain privacy. Two more agents were standing in the entrance of the room, standing guard. As she passed the two agents, she let out a deep sigh. She wasn't sure what to expect when she entered the room, and she couldn't prepare herself for what she was about to see.

Almost sensing her hesitation, one of the agents leaned close to her and whispered, "Don't worry, he's going to make it."

"He has to," she replied, finally walking inside the room.

She walked toward him slowly. Booth was all covered in tubes and machines surrounded him. She didn't like the sound of them, but at least they reminded her that he was fighting. His chest was wrapped in a tight bandage, but she could see little traces of blood on them. She figured they were from his surgery. She spotted some torture marks on his exposed skin. The doctors had put some ointment on his wounds and covered them, she was happy she didn't have to see everything. The worst part of seeing him was looking at his head. His head was wrapped completely and a few tubes emerged from the wraps. She kept wondering if she had made the right decisions for him.

A few minutes later, one of the doctors came into the room and told Brennan they were adding another bed for her in the room. She smiled at him, and said that she preferred a chair. She finally understood the fact that sometimes you  
had to pull some strings, as Booth often said to her. After a few minutes she was seated in a comfortable chair holding his casted hand in hers.

By the time she was alone with him, she just wanted to sit there and rest for the first time in a 3 weeks. But that didn't happen. Booth's heart had been showing signs of stress so his heartbeat was irregular. The doctor told  
her that he had some burn marks on his chest that could be signs of electrocutions, and that was causing the unsteady beat of his heart. So now, each time the alarm of the machine sounded, she just jumped hoping that his heart was still beating.

Cullen arrived to the room around noon. He saw Bones watching him and smiled.

"Did you get any sleep Dr. Brennan?" He obviously knew the answer, but he still wanted to hear from her.

"Not really. He got out of the OR at 9:30 in the morning and since then I've been here."

"Well, go home. I will stay with him."

"I can't and I don't want to go… he needs me." Cullen smiled. For once he imagined Booth dealing with her and knew that most of the time she had won their arguments. He had to admit, that she almost convinced him to let her stay, but just from looking at her he knew that she must be exhausted and really needed rest.

"Don't worry Dr. Brennan, get some rest, and then come back. I will stay with him. I promise I won't leave him alone."

"But what if something happens while I…"

"I will call you. Just go, get some rest, and then come back. You can't help him if you're exhausted."

She nodded sadly knowing he was right, she needed to rest.

Noticing that she was convinced, he continued talking to her in a low tone. "One of the agents outside will drive you home. I gave him strict orders to drive you, and then pick you up as soon as you are ready. Also, you can use  
him to run any errands you need to do."

"But why? I can drive myself." What she really wanted to ask was why he was being so nice to her, when she knew that he didn't like her.

"Dr. Brennan I'm quite sure that you can drive yourself here, but I want to keep an eye on you."

"But…"

"I want to make sure that you are ok. I don't want to be the one informing Booth that you were injured because I left you alone. Just humor me Dr. Brennan. For Booth's sake."

She agreed and moved to Booth's side. With care, she gave him a kiss on the forehead, over the bandages and gently caressed his bruised face.

"I will come back later. I promise."

Cullen sat down in the chair watching the interaction between them. Once Brennan left the room, he took a good look at the agent. He always told him that he was a pain in the **... But he loves him like a son... Booth was there  
with him, when Amy… He couldn't loose him too…


	8. Complications

**_Complications_**

Brennan finally arrived at her place 45 minutes after leaving the hospital. The entire ride there, she couldn't stop thinking about him. What had happened to him? What did they do to him? … Why? If there was a merciful and loving God how could he have let this happen to Booth? He was always faithful to His God. ... He didn't deserve something like this. The agent accompanied her to her door, and she realized Cullen must have given him strict orders to protect her. After entering her house, she took a hot bubble bath, and then finally dropped herself into the bed. She had cried so much already and wasn't about to stop the tears that continued to fall. Currently, she was afraid of many things, but mostly she was scared of losing him. She couldn't help but think that she had made the wrong decision regarding his health.

After two hours of much needed sleep she finally awoke, and she felt a huge emptiness in her heart. Again, her eyes became filled with numerous tears that found their way out, falling uncontrollably onto her bed sheets. She wiped them off her face and went directly into the bathroom. After taking another rather quick bath, she walked toward the kitchen to prepare something to eat as she called the agent in charge to take her to the hospital. She wanted nothing more than to be with him. When the agent arrived to her home, she had already packed a suitcase with some clothes and a pack with her computer and other office materials to bring with her. She had no plans for leaving the hospital until Booth was well again. She wouldn't leave him again. She also made a quick stop at Booth's home so she could pack some things for him.

During the ride back to the hospital, Cullen had called her. It seemed that Booth now had a high fever, and the doctors were worried about it. When she arrived, the agent sent her upstairs, and told her that he would bring her bags up later. She entered the room, and saw two nurses wiping his skin with a cold towel.

"The doctor came in a few minutes ago. They don't have an explanation for the fever. His labs don't show anything unusual, but it may be due to an infection. Right now, they are worried about his body temperature," Cullen said to her as soon as he saw her.

"It could cause damage to his brain."

"That's what they told me. They ordered the nurse to try to cool down his body. They're also worried about his breathing. They had to intubate him during the surgery, but since his respiration was fine they removed the tubes."

As they spoke, the doctor returned to the room, going directly to Booth. He checked his record, and after writing something in his chart he walked toward them.

"I finally was able to review all the tests we've performed since Mr. Booth arrived yesterday afternoon. From my analysis, he was severely dehydrated and had symptoms compatible with starvation. We believe that both conditions caused his body to shut down. Right now, he has a severe kidney infection and pneumonia."

"So that's the cause of the fever," Cullen said, relived that they knew what was making Booth even sicker and it made him feel even better that they knew how to help him.

"Yes. Right now we are going to put him on an oxygen mask and give him some medication to improve his breathing and control the infections."

"You can put him onto a ventilator, right?" Bones asked looking alarmed thinking about what would happen if he were to stop breathing.

"That's correct Dr Brennan, but that is our last option."

After talking to the doctors, Brennan became interested in the procedure the nurses were doing. She asked them to teach her as they tended to Booth. They explained it to her, and then she asked if she could do it herself. Cullen excused himself, and told Brennan he would come back the next day, to exchange places with her for a while. Then he saw the bags and smiled. He knew that this was an intimate moment between both of them, so he decided it was best to leave them alone.

When she finally alone with him, she rolled the sleeves of her shirt up and started wiping his face.

"Hey, you seem to be a good nurse. Are you his wife?" A nurse asked and Brennan smiled.

"No, I'm just his partner."

"Sorry for the mistake."

"No problem. Many people think of us in that way."

The nurse took a blood sample from him, and then took his temperature, listening to the explanations Brennan was giving. She smiled. It was obviously that the woman loved the man, but apparently she didn't see it.

"He still has a fever, but at least it's lower than the last time we checked. I will come back with some medications for him in awhile. Do you want anything?"

"No, I'm fine, thanks."

"Ok. You can stop wiping his skin now."

"But it helps, right?"

"Yes, but you must be tired. I will find one of the nurses and tell her to come in and continue."

"No, it's no problem. If it helps him, I'll keep doing it." Bones didn't want another woman to be touching him at the moment.

"You really care about him." It was supposed to be a simple question, but in the end it was a confirmation.

"Yes," Bones said simply, placing a cold towel on Booth's forehead and cheek.

She looked at him for awhile, and Brennan started to analyze her feelings. She loves Booth as a friend, but on the other had, she couldn't imagine her life without him. She spoke to Angela later that afternoon, and made the first conclusion of her personal life. She LOVES Booth, not just as his friend, but as a man. She loves the way he looks at her, the way he calls her every night on the phone just to make sure she ate dinner and that she made sure her door was locked before she headed to bed. She missed the long talks they shared while eating take out food. A sweet smile appeared onto her lips. For the first time in her life, Temperance Brennan was in LOVE. She waited until the nurse gave him his medications, and then she started wiping his pale skin again.

The next two weeks passed by slowly, and still Booth had not woken up. The pneumonia was an easier infection to treat, but the kidney infection was much more stubborn and harder to treat. It took the doctors almost a week to be able to at least control the infection, and they had managed to contain it, but the lab results showed it was still present.

After two weeks without any improvement in his condition, Booth was still unconscious and it was really beginning to worry her. The doctors said that this could be caused by a brain hemorrhage that he was suffering from. They couldn't be sure if there was brain damage until he woke up, but he just laid there apparently resting. Brennan and Cullen talked and decided to not let anyone visit Booth at the hospital. Just Rebecca, Brennan and Cullen had authorization to visit him, at least until Booth woke up or the people responsible for his condition were caught. Parker knew that his daddy was in the hospital, but Rebecca didn't take him with her. After seeing Booth for the first time, she didn't think Parker should see his dad in that condition. He was still young; he just wouldn't be able to handle it.

Booth appeared to be improving slightly and very slowly. During the past week, Brennan was allowed to see Booth's x-rays from when he was first admitted. Upon seeing them she was hearth broken. Now she understood how strong he was. Many of the fractures that she saw the first time in his x-rays appeared again, but this time, the damage was much greater.

The morning was cloudy, but a small ray of light was shining through the window unto him. Last night, Rebecca brought Parker for the first time to the hospital to see his dad. When Parker saw Booth, his face lit up. He was well aware about Booth's condition and that he was sleeping, but still he talked to him as if he could answer to him. According to Parker, his daddy was really tired and the doctors gave him a medication to make him sleep. Brennan wished she could believe that, but she enjoyed watching Parker with Booth. It was amazing how much hope a child could bring to such a horrible situation. She smiled as she saw Parker taking Booth's big hand in his small one and kissed his fingers. A few minutes before Parker left, he started getting really excited and claiming that his daddy had squeezed his hand. Brennan called for the doctors, but after checking him, they concluded that it was only a brain impulse…

The doctors assured her that his brain wasn't showing any signs of improvement. She returned to work to keep her mind off of his ailing condition, but it failed. Everyday she returned to the hospital to stay for the night. She spent her weekends at the hospital with him. Many other things had changed as well. She had a new "partner". He was nice, but she didn't like him. Without Booth nothing was the same… Everyone, including the squints missed Booth and according to Cullen, this new partner was effective until Booth returned to work.

Brennan was exhausted from their new case and didn't think she would have the time to make it to the hospital that night, but she came and showered and settled in her chair next to him and was asleep before she knew it. She placed his hand inside hers, like she did every night. She would tell him about her days, she would read him the newspaper. She would even read him her manuscript, anything to get him to wake up. All of a sudden, she jolted awake as his hand began moving inside hers. She got closer to him and started calling his name. After he didn't respond, she thought that it was just another brain impulse, but just as she was about to let his hand go, she felt him squeeze her hand again. It was then that he opened his eyes slowly…


	9. Memories

****Hi, thanks for all the replies and your comments, them make my day. I'm searching for a beta for a story i'm working it rightn now, so if you are intereted on it, just let me know. Also, this will be the last post for the weekend. My friend Felicia (who edit the story for me) had a problem with her pc, so it will take her a little more time to review the rest of the story, so i beg you to be patient with me. I will try to post the next chapters as soon as i recieve them.

LOL

Lilly

**_Memories_**

He opened his eyes for a few seconds and then closed them again. He felt so tired. Every inch of his body ached, his back especially. She took her hand and carefully touched his face and jumped as he moved his face away from her touch. She couldn't believe how much she missed their guy hugs, the kisses on the cheeks. She never imagined that all the simple details could mean so much to her. Now that she almost lost him, she understood just how much Booth and their relationship meant to her.

Brennan got close to him once again and gave him a little kiss on his forehead, whispering slowly that it was her, and everything was going to be okay. She called one of the agents at the door and asked him to find the doctor. Booth, upon hearing her voice, tried to stay awake just to see her again, but he was unable to keep his eyes open for more than a second. But for her, the only thing that was important at that moment was that he was there with her. He was alive.

After a few minutes both doctors came into the room followed by two nurses. They checked his vital signs and they confirmed that he was awake, as he briefly opened his eyes. After checking him again, the doctor pulled Brennan aside to speak to her.

"He seems to be fine, according to his condition right now… "

"Bones," she heard a low voice, interrupting the recently started conversation.

Bones nearly ran to his side, pushing one of the nurses out of the way and she placed her hands over his cheeks, caressing his face. "Hi," she whispered as the first tears fell. "How do you feel?"

"Fine," he said while his eyes closed again. "How is Parker?"

"He's fine. He came last night to see you. Do you want to see him?" Brennan asked, and Booth nodded slowly.

"Bones?" He asked again, noticing that she was no longer by his side. There was a short man looking at him.

"Agent Booth, do you were you are?" the doctor asked. He wanted to determine if the brain hemorrhage had caused any damage to his brain functions.

"In the hospital… I guess…" he said… "What happened?"

"What's the last thing you remember?"

"Old house… men… tools…" a huge silence ensued as Booth's voice settled down.

"It's okay Agent Booth. You may now rest… I will come back to check on you in awhile." Booth nodded and remained still with his eyes closed.

The doctor pulled Brennan outside. "It's remarkable that he can remember things from his ordeal. For now he is fine. Later we will test all his neurological functions, but for now I will let him rest. I must warn you that he most likely won't remember everybody or everything for awhile so you must be patient with him."

"Thank you," Brennan replied and watched as he turned to walk away. He stopped and turned to face her again.

"It's strange. While you're by his side he seems to be very calm."

"What are you trying to say, Dr. Stone?" Brennan asked, obviously nervous at the answer.

"When we tended to him his heart rate increased. We tried to calm him, make sure that he knew who we were, that we didn't want to hurt him. But it didn't help, he kept fighting us. When you went to his side after he called to you, his heart rate became normal. He felt safe with you." Brennan smiled at the doctor and went back inside to Booth.

"Do you need anything?" she asked him sweetly.

"Go home."

"Excuse me?" She said in an annoyed tone.

"Go home," he said, trying to smile.

"I've been here with you since…"

"Exactly. Get some rest," he said as the sleep overtook him once more. "I won't be going anywhere."

She shook her head with a huge smile on her lips. She wouldn't leave him alone again if she could help it.

"The agents told me that he just woke up," Cullen exclaimed smiling as he entered into the room.

"Yes, a few minutes ago." The smile on Brennan's face said it all, and Cullen gasped in surprise when he saw Booth's eyes flutter open slowly.

"Agent Booth, how are you?"

"I'm fine sir."

"Dr. Brennan, if you don't mind, I would like to speak to Booth alone."

Brennan knew that he wanted to speak to Booth about the kidnapping, and she wasn't ready to know all of the facts. Not yet.

"Okay."

Brennan picked up her things and gave Booth a sweet kiss on the cheek. "I'll be back."

Cullen waited until he was sure that Bones was inside the elevator before he started the conversation that he didn't want to have, but needed to be done.

"Agent Booth, I don't want to do this, but you are quite aware of the protocol in these situations."

"I know sir."

"Do you want to tell me what happened?"

Booth remained quiet for awhile. Cullen looked at him with enormous care. "If you don't remember its okay... we can wait until..."

"I was in my place. I wasn't feeling well, so I went into the kitchen to get some pills. I needed to pick up Parker from school that day, so I was going to take some medicine and drive toward my son's school."

Booth stopped for a few seconds and then continued.

"I was in the kitchen when I felt someone grabbing me by my neck from behind. One of his hands covered my mouth while the other tried to restrain my movement. I was too weak to fight it, but I tried to anything I could to get him to let go, but there was another person there and then two sets of hands caught me. I fought them as hard as I possibly could, but one of them injected me with something and I fell over the coffee table."

"When I regained consciousness, I was tied up and beaten pretty badly. I didn't remember how I got there or how much time I had been there. The routine was simple. They took me into a room and beat the hell out of me. Then they would do whatever torture they thought would be a pleasant diversion for the day. They gave me water for the first week I think and some bread, and suddenly it stopped. I heard one of the men say to the other that they wanted to kill me by starvation."

Cullen's face morphed into a strange pain grin. He didn't know how this man in front of him had suffered in reality, but he knew that he didn't deserve any of it.

"All the days were the same. A few days after they stopped giving me water and food, they started to drug me. I discovered that they were poisoning me, but apparently I was stronger than the poison they used because it took more than a week until I started to get sick. They gave me some drug in the morning and then watched me suffer the effects of it. Usually it was painful, but as the days passed, my body began to become immune or tolerant and I just stayed there with my eyes closed. Then they stabbed me one night after they shot me. They told me that I would die as a pig. They left me to bleed to death."

Booth closed his eyes once more as he was remembering the tragic events, trying to control his tears. There were some facts of the torture that he would rather keep to himself. Cullen watched Booth in silence for a few minutes until he told the remaining part of the story, and ended by telling him that his case was a cold one. They had nothing to go on and the two men they had in custody appeared dead a week ago.

Booth remained silent listening to the story, and when he knew Cullen had finished he asked for one favor.

"Sir, can this conversation remain between us? I don't want Parker or Dr. Brennan to have to hear this."

"Its okay Booth, the doctors told me to expect that you wouldn't recall all the information immediately, but they were wrong. So I will just say that you don't remember anything after your abduction. Now, you better rest. I don't want Dr. Brennan to grill me because I didn't let you rest," Cullen said with a smile on his lips.

Booth smile slowly. "Thanks," Booth fell asleep almost immediately.

Cullen stayed with Booth until Brennan arrived again. She was out for two hours. When she entered she was afraid because the bed was empty. She ran to the nurse's desk assuming the worst.

"Where is the patient of that room?" She stopped, as she saw a group of male nurses surrounded by 4 FBI agents returning to the room. Cullen was behind them smiling.

"What happened?" Brennan asked as Booth was placed in his bed.

"Agent Booth was taken to the MRI room," Cullen said. "He's fine," Cullen added seeing the worried look on Bones' face. "The doctor just wanted to make sure that everything is all right. They also removed the remaining tubes from his head. They said that the pressure is normal now. Apparently there were no signs of brain damage due to the hemorrhage."

Brennan began breathing normally again, for a split second, she imagined losing him again. After everybody left the room she was alone with him. She looked at him sadly; the tear that was running down her cheek fell into Booth's hand. Why did he have to suffer so much?

"You shouldn't do that," he said calmly, but sleepily.

"What?"

"Crying," she smiled as he tried to hold his arm toward her face to wipe away the tears.

"Ow...Ahhh"

"Hey take it easy, Booth."

"It's funny."

"What?"

"I am supposed to take care of you, and now, look at me... in this bed, unable to move... and you spending all your time in here... I feel like..."

"Don't say it. I don't mind spending all my time here with you."

"I know, but...you're wasting your time on me. You must have some interesting things to do."

"When I called you when I was beat up in New Orleans, you almost lost your job. Just to be with me. You left everything just to be by my side. I needed to stay with you, to repay you for all the things you have done for me and my family, Booth. For once let me take care of you. You were always right in front of me, covering me, taking bullets for me, so I wouldn't be hurt. For once, let me protect you, and take care of you... Besides I missed you Booth."

"Me too," Booth let the conversation rest, for now. Something in her eyes told him that all this time she was suffering too and that she needed to be at his side.

"How are you feeling?"

"I'll be fine Bones, just…" He grimaced in pain as he tried to move in the bed. "It's going to take me some time."

"Just take one day at a time."

"I don't want to be in here… I just want to be in my house… in my bed... this place just depresses me."

"Don't worry. I'll be here with you."

"I don't like hospitals."

"Hey, you are going to stay in here until the doctors say you are well enough to go home. Is that clear?"

He didn't answer, he just smiled at her. "I miss you, you know… the bossy you."

"I miss you too. I really miss you."

"I spook to Cullen, he is going to allow some people to visit me. He was saying that some people in the bureau are driving him crazy asking about me."

"It's nice of them."

"I also asked Cullen to let the squints past."

Brennan looks at him with love. "Did you?"

"They are my friends, I miss them too you know. And I have to say thanks to them. It was your brain trust that….

"Our. Our brain trust," She corrected him with a smile.

"Okay… our brain trust that found me. So thanks."

"I asked Cullen to eliminate the security outside the door, but he said that until the responsible…" Booth closed his eyes. After a few seconds, "party are caught, the security will be here all the time."

She just left the conversation rest. Obviously, he didn't want to remember the kidnapping anymore.

The conversation was interrupted as a nurse entered to give Booth his medications once more. After a few minutes, the nurse left, leaving them alone again. They continued with their chat, until the drugs that the nurse applied to him had taken effect and he fell asleep.


	10. Family Visit

**_Family Visit_**

Booth was asleep when the squints arrived. None of them had seen him after his rescue, but were aware of his injuries. Nonetheless, they were taken aback by his weakened appearance. Angela grabbed Jack's hand in a vain attempt to restrain herself from crying. In silence, they exited the room and sat in the small waiting room that was located in front of Booth's room.

"How is he?" Cam asked breaking the silence between the friends.

"Physically he is improving slowly, but he's getting better. The injuries are serious, but he is responding well to the treatment. He's had some infections and he still has an infection in his kidneys, but the doctors think that he will be okay in a few months. They were very clear that it would take a few months for him to be 100% back to normal, the way Booth used to be. They couldn't be sure if there was going to be any long damage from the drugs they gave him and from the brain injury, but for now he is okay." The group could sense the apprehension behind her words. They knew she was still worried about him.

"That's good," Jack said smiling slightly.

"How's the case?" Bones asked bluntly. She wouldn't be calm until the people responsible for hurting Booth were caught.

"We are stuck. I finally was able to ID the venom that they used. It was mistletoe. In Booth's case they gave him enough to make him sick."

"That would explain why they took him while he was sick, he was very vulnerable. That would allow them to take him without a big fight from him," Cam said as a way to corroborate what Jack had said.

"Bren, is he having nightmares? I mean after all he's been through?" Angela asked in concern.

"Sort of." Bones wasn't sure she wanted to give them all the information regarding his nightmares. She looked up and saw their friend looking puzzled at her. She was about to tell them something when one of the agents called her to the room.

"He's awake," The agent said and they began to walk into the room.

Booth had his eyes closed when she entered the room. He didn't open them until she was standing by his side.

"The guys are here. Do you want to see them?" She asked in a low voice and he gave her one smile. She turned and saw their friends standing near the door, waiting for some sort of approval to enter completely into the room. She stepped aside, and let Booth see their friends in front of him. He gave them a smile and that was what it took for them to enter and come close to Booth.

Angela and Cam walked directly toward him and kissed him on the forehead. Angela wanted to hug him, but she knew better and held herself back. His constant facial expression told her that he was healing, but he was still in a lot of pain.

"Hey guys. Thanks for finding me," Booth said and the squints looked on apologetically.

"We should've been able to do it more quickly," Jack said and Booth could tell that they were feeling guilty. They could've saved him from a lot of pain and his current condition.

"We should've processed the evidence more efficiently. We should've been able to compare the cases more quickly," Cam said continuing Jack's line of talk.

Booth looked at Angela and she looked sad. He moved his hand over hers and gave her a weak squeeze.

"Guys, none of you did this to me. I'm glad that you found me in time. I'm alive, thanks to you, so I don't want to hear that either of you are guilty because of this. You are my friends, my family. Thanks for everything you did in my absence," Booth said in a low voice that Bones could sense the pain in it. But she knew that their team needed to hear this from him.

After listening to Booth's words, the three squints smiled widely and sat around him. Booth asked questions about the case, and with sadness they confessed that the case was stuck, since there was no more evidence to process.

"Guys, can I ask you a favor?" Booth asked in a low voice.

"Whatever you want big guy," Cam said.

"This will have to be between us, okay?" Booth asked and watched as the squints agreed.

"A new conspiracy theory, just what I need," Jack said trying to lighten the mood and succeeded, as he made Booth snort and laugh, even when he grimaced in pain.

"It's about the case. When Cullen interviewed me about what I remember, I told him almost everything. He asked if I remembered any of the names or any characteristics about the men that took me. I didn't see their faces. They always had masks or sunglasses on. But as the day passed, I began to remember a voice. I knew one of the voices from somewhere, but I can't remember the face," Booth said and waited a few seconds to let the squints comprehend the information.

"I think it's someone in the Bureau, but I'm not sure. I still can't put a face to the voice," Booth said and looked toward them.

"Do you want us to start an investigation?" Cam asked, half amused by the request.

"I'm not quite sure what I want right now, but I think that you guys need to know. I can't do anything from here, and it's going to take me a long time to get back on my feet," Booth looked sadly at both of his feet, knowing the long and painful process that he was going to endure over the next few months.

Jack had an idea what he could do with the information Booth gave him. It was clear that he wouldn't be able to record each voice of the personnel of the bureau to let Booth ID the voice source, but at least he could do a complete search on the personnel. He at least owed that to Booth.

They were in a comfortable banter when Booth smiled sleepily to the person standing at the door. Parker didn't need encouragement to run onto his father's bed. He gave him a quick hug and a kiss to Bones who were sitting at his dad's side, and easily jumped into the bed with him. With care, he gave his father a kiss and a hug and nestled himself at his father's side. The squints smiled as they saw the smile on Parker's face when he waved to them his little head resting on his father chest.

"Hi!" Parker said happily to the squints.

"Hey Park, I didn't know you were visiting your dad today," Jack said smiling to the little boy.

"I ran from mom, she will be mad at me when she finds me, but I just couldn't wait to see daddy." As Parker finished Booth looked to the door and found Rebecca, her face flushed.

"Parker, don't ever do that to me again." It was clear that she was running behind his son.

"We had to take the stairs because the elevators were stuck, and he just ran. I tried to catch up with him, but I couldn't." She saw the faces of the visitors in the room were trying to restrain themselves from laughing, and she began to laugh.

Booth was happy. He had never enjoyed a stay in the hospital like today. His morning had been dull and he almost slept through it all, but since the arrival of the squints, the afternoon was really great. And finishing their visit, Rebecca brought Parker to see him again, and stayed with them for long time. They all left around eight that night and Bones was glad they did. Booth was tired and she knew it, but she didn't have the heart to ask his visitors to leave.

She sat by his side and waited for him to fall asleep. He knew she wouldn't move until he was asleep, so he complied with her. After giving her a kiss on her forehead, he closed his eyes for the night.


	11. Misssion Acomplished

**_Mission Accomplish_**

Brennan entered her apartment and flopped onto the couch. She didn't want to be there, but Booth had begged her to leave the hospital so she could get some rest. She had spent almost every waking moment with him, and she needed some decent sleep. After the FBI agents assured her that they would call her if something happened she found herself staring out the window. 'He had almost died… you have to admit that Temperance… you need him. Not just as a partner… just drop the act… he makes you feel safe… secure… loved… I don't know how he does it, but he always knows how to make me feel better by just hugging me… the guys hug… no one believes it,' she thought to herself as a small smile appeared on her lips. Her mind was her worst enemy right now. 'I could sit there all day just watching him sleep…'

Booth was in a semi sleep state. Not fully asleep, but not awake either. Since he had woken up, the doctors ordered some medication to help him sleep. Since then, every time he fell asleep, the memories of the ordeal became quite vivid in his mind. Often times, he refused the drugs so he wouldn't have to remember everything he had gone through, but today, he wanted to remember it. He knew the details, but he couldn't remember the faces of the men that tortured him. So today, he greatly accepted the drugs so he could finally remember.

Brennan couldn't sleep. She had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach that she couldn't quite complain. She brushed it off, but she couldn't stand not being in control of the situation and decided the only way she would be content is to be with him. So at two in the morning, she found herself going back to him.

In the hospital, two new agents came to replace the others. One nurse came into Booth's room to check on him. She was aware that he was not asleep yet.

"If you need anything, just press this button," the nurse said as she placed the call button into Booth's left hand and smiled at him before leaving the room. While exiting the room, she glanced at the two new agents and smiled at them. Neither of them reciprocated the greeting, so she went directly to her desk.

Booth became more and more relaxed as he felt the drugs taking affect, falling into a deep sleep. Suddenly, he heard a voice calling his name… the voice…it couldn't be. They couldn't be there… it was impossible…it must be a dream. The voices continued until he opened his eyes abruptly as an acute pain shot through his leg.

"Did you really think that you would escape me? Only in your dreams Agent Booth, only in you dreams…"

Booth's heart started beating rapidly and his breathing became erratic. He was unable to yell. He frantically pushed the button in his hand. Booth still couldn't see his face. The nurse at the desk had already spotted the increment in his heart rate and called the doctors to his room. As the nurses moved toward Booth's room, they spotted that neither of the agents was where they were supposed to be. They had been instructed by Cullen that if something like this were to happen one of the nurses was supposed to call security while the other was supposed to call Cullen. Something was wrong here.

The men inside Booth's room started to press against his ribs, the pain attacking Booth. Suddenly, the man saw a flat line on Booth's heart monitor, but he already heard movement at the nurse's desk, he didn't have time to waste, he needed to get out, he had to leave. The man picked up the room phone and called the nurse's station.

"Agent Booth had been attacked, please hurry."

As security guards, nurses and doctors ran into Booth's rooms, the men disguised as FBI agents disappeared into the hallway, both smiling as they had fulfilled their mission.


	12. New Decisions

Hi! I'm not so bad. Here is the next chapter, this one is dedicated to bookwormlady. See, im not that bad ;-)

**_Desicion_**

By the time Brennan arrived at the hospital, she immediately learned that something was quite wrong. Both hospital security and FBI agents were standing by the elevator doors, not letting anyone inside them. She ran toward the doors as her heart began to sense that everything that was happening had to do with Booth. She was nearing the elevator when a strong hand grabbed her arm, stopping her.

"Ma'am, you should stay here."

"What?" She screamed at the military policeman that retained her.

"Ma'am, I'm really sorry, but no one is permitted to use the elevators."

She was screaming at the poor guard when one of the FBI agents that knew her stepped up to them. "It's ok, she can go."

"Thank you," she said turning to the FBI agent, smiling gratefully at him. "What happened?"

The silence coming from him scared her and she realized something horrible had happened with Booth. "Booth," she said in a whisper.

"They are waiting for you."

Brennan got into the elevator, fearing the worst. 'I knew it. I should have been here with him. This is all my fault. What did he mean when he said they? They are waiting for you.' Lots of wild thoughts attacked her brain on her way up to Booth's floor.

As soon she stepped out of the elevator, she spotted Cullen with two other men whom she had never seen before. Upon seeing her, he excused himself and walked toward her. She couldn't move from the spot in front of the elevator doors for fear that she was going to faint at any moment. She didn't want to know what happened. If the hospital had increased security and Cullen was there at 3 in the morning, something was really bad.

"Dr. Brennan, I'm sorry," his eyes were full of sadness and something inside of her felt torn.

"What? Where is he? Is he…" She couldn't even form the words. She couldn't think, she couldn't breathe. He just had to be okay.

"Follow me."

Cullen walked toward Booth's room and she immediately feared the worst. 'He can't be. Please if there is a God, let Booth be ok.'

Cullen stood in front of the door to Booth's room just to let her see that he was still alive and there with them. Booth was surrounded by four doctors and three nurses, all of them taking care of him simultaneously.

"He's alive."

"Yes, Dr. Brennan."

"But what happened?"

"A breach in security."

"What? You assured me there was someone here 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You assured me that!" she began to blow up at Cullen, and he pulled at her gently, guiding her to a chair.

"Let's take a seat, Dr. Brennan." She sat down in the room he had led her to and he closed the door so they could have some privacy.

"Dr. Brennan, I will explain everything to you, so please listen carefully." Brennan nodded as Cullen started talking.

"Two men impersonated agents. A nurse said she saw them stand guard by his door. After Booth had hit the call button, they were no longer there."

"But how?"

"We aren't sure yet, but we are going to move Booth to a secure place soon."

"But he can't be moved."

"We know that. But right now, this is the best chance we have if we want to keep him alive. If they came inside the hospital to finish him, we…" he couldn't continue. "I won't be taking any chances from now on." Brennan smiled. Cullen was going to protect him.

"There's something more," she said, sensing that there was something he wasn't telling her.

"We think that they will try to get to Booth through his family."

"Parker! Is he…"

"He is fine. I already sent security. I spook to Rebecca a few minutes ago, she is going to be here in the morning after she drops Parker off at school."

Cullen explained a few other things to Bones, when the doctors interrupted them.

"May I have a word with both of you?"

"How is he?"

"Right now, he is resting. He suffered a panic attack, which would explain the high blood pressure, the rapid heart beats and his trouble breathing."

"Any physical injuries?" Cullen asked, worried.

"Well, they cut into his right leg, and there are some minor chest and neck wounds and we found fresh bruises on his lower back, near his kidneys, but otherwise he is fine. Right now, we are more concerned with the panic attack. The attack was rather severe, one of the worst I've seen."

"Why?"

"We are not quite sure Dr. Brennan, but he hasn't spoken since he woke up."

"Is he awake now?"

"He has been dozing in and out of sleep."

"May I see him?"

"I would rather he rest right now, but you can go in in a few minutes. Let the nurses finish treating and covering his new wounds, and then you can enter." The doctor turned his attention back to Cullen. "Are moving Agent Booth?"

"Yes."

"Well, I've been ordered to give you all the information regarding his future care. This is his medical file. I will order the nurses to give you and your team medications for him for at least two weeks."

"Thanks," Cullen said, shaking the doctor's hand.

The nurses came out of his room, and Brennan walked rapidly toward him. He was quiet and looking toward the ceiling, but she could see that his eyes were blurry. He didn't notice that she was by his side. Only when she spoke to him did he become aware of her presence.

"Hi."

Booth turned his head toward her but didn't say anything.

"I'm here, okay?" Booth closed his eyes and tears began to run down his cheeks.

"I…"

"Shh, shh. It's okay, just rest. I will be here with you."


	13. A New Plan

_Sorry for the delay in posting the new chapter. I'm been a little depress this days, but you dont deserve continue waiting for the next chapter. So, here it is. I hope you all like it. Bookworm: I'm waiting for the continuation on your story (and you said that i'm bad in left people with cliffhangers...) :-)_

_I dont now what happen with the FFnet yesterday. I cant open a few stories, and one of them were mine, so i post the chapter again today.I hope this problem is solved by now. Thanks to all the people that send me messages informing the situantion. THANKS!!!_

**_A New Plan_**

Booth nodded and closed his eyes. A few seconds later, he felt her lips on his. He didn't open his eyes, but kissed her back. An indescribable electricity ran between both of them as they leaned their foreheads together. She ran her hands on his face, wiping the fresh tears away. Slowly she separated her lips from his. Booth was about to speak when she stopped him.

"Just rest. You need rest."

Booth lay still and Brennan sat on his bed, looking at him, while her hand ran slowly down his face. Cullen and the two mysterious men had been witnesses of the scene. Cullen smiled and turned around to face them.

"There will be a change in the plan, gentlemen. She is going with him," Cullen said with an authority in his voice and a hint of happiness on his face.

"But…." One of the men tried to interrupt Cullen's order, but he wouldn't take no for an answer.

"No buts. If she can't go with him, the FBI will take full custody of Agent Booth, and believe me, your boss will not be happy about it. So, rearrange the plan. She is coming."

"Sir, what if she doesn't want to? I've heard that she loves her work. She would never accept leaving her work." Apparently Brennan's work ethic was well known of and Cullen had to smile at this, but stuck with his argument.

"Oh! Believe me, she will. There is one thing that she loves more than her work, actually," Cullen said to the man at his side. "It's lying right in that bed, and she's not leaving him." The last words Cullen spoke were so low he was the only one who heard them.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Cullen was once again sitting in the same room he had just a few hours before with Bones. But now, he was with Rebecca. Also in the room was Caroline Julian. Rebecca was obviously mad about something they were discussing with her.

"Are you insane? How dare you…"

"If you could stay calm," Cullen was trying to stay calm, but he was losing his patience with her.

"You are saying that my son is in danger and that I should leave everything behind for a supposition?"

"Supposition, did you really believe that all this is a supposition? The father of your son was kidnapped, tortured for nearly a month and he almost died last night. They attempted to kill him and you really believe that it is a supposition?" Caroline yelled at Rebecca, finally losing her patience altogether.

"I know that, but you need to understand," Rebecca said calmly.

"Ms. Stinson, we have to protect Agent Booth and his immediate family and that includes Parker. If you want, you may go with them."

"I can't leave. I have a job here. My life is here."

"The offer is for you and Parker."

"I'm sorry. Thanks for the offer, but no." Rebecca stood up and began to walk toward the door when Caroline stopped her.

"We're telling you this because it's polite, but if you don't want to come to a secure house that's your choice, but your son is innocent in this situation and you are putting him in danger just so you don't lose your job." Rebecca stopped and turned to face both of them.

"What do you want from me? I already told you. I just can't leave everything here to hide for God knows how long."

"We have the power to take Parker if he is in a dangerous situation like this. I know that you don't want to hide, but Parker is an innocent child. Booth will never forgive himself if something happened to him. Please."

"I can't go."

"Ms. Stinson, we already understand that. Right now, we are asking you to give Booth custody of Parker so we can protect him."

"WHAT??? Are you insane?"

"Look Ms. Stinson, you have been messing with Booth's feelings for quite some time. You know that he is an excellent father, and you have made his life miserable." Caroline spoke as Cullen looked at them.

"How dare you."

"I dare, because you were not the one who's had to see him walking like a zombie in the office until late hours with that sad face when he couldn't see his son or when he had to beg you for some time with him. He lives for his son and you know it."

Rebecca looked at them, until she realized she had never once thought about his feelings. She always placed herself as the victim of the whole situation and now she realized it was Booth who had suffered the most after all these years. He was always there when she had to travel or when she couldn't take Parker somewhere. Booth had been when she had a special date with her boyfriend; Booth always took his son no matter what the circumstances.

"I can't go," Cullen saw hope in the last words that Rebecca spoke.

"Ms. Stinson, if you can't come we will order protection for you at all times, but you need to think of your son." Rebecca looked toward the room that held Booth. She saw Booth lying on the bed looking out the window. In the years that she's known him, he had been never looked so helpless, so vulnerable. They were right, for once she needed to think of Booth.

"Okay. Parker can go with his dad."

Cullen smiled at Caroline as she gave Rebecca some legal documents for her to sign. By signing them she passed legal custody of Parker to Booth, making him the legal guardian of their son.

After signing, Rebecca was told the details of how and when Parker would disappear, but they couldn't tell her where they would disappear to.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Bones found herself standing in her apartment. She couldn't believe what Cullen told her a few minutes ago. He was allowing her to go into hiding with Booth. She asked Cullen why? But he just smiled at her. She had to make a decision. Leave with him to an undisclosed location or stay and continue with her lifestyle without him.

Booth just learned that he would be sedated and then transferred to a more secure place. He knew nothing more than that. Cullen didn't want to tell him all the details of the operation.

"Sir, I need to know." Booth tried to reason with his boss. He already told him that he suspected an inside job, but that only enforced the decision to move him.

"No Booth, for once trust me. The doctors will sedate you in a few minutes, so we can move you more easily. You won't be in any pain."

"Move me where?"

"Booth, don't ask questions you know that I can't answer."

"What about Parker? I can't just leave my son here. I won't go anywhere without my son." Booth's heart rate was rising and one of the nurses immediately injected something into his IV.

As Booth was being given the medication, he saw Rebecca standing in the door frame.

"Booth, we need to talk."

"Booth, I will be outside," Cullen said as he stepped out.

"I'm so sorry Rebecca… "

"No Booth, it's me who should be sorry."

"But…"

"Booth, I have been so mean to you for the past 5 years. I never thought about your feelings. I only thought about myself and how things affected me. I've limited so much of your time with Parker," Booth looked at her amazed.

Rebecca talked with him for about a half hour and told him that she had just given him the legal custody of Parker so he would be able to go with him somewhere safe. He promised to maintain Parker's safety and she believed him. As soon as Rebecca left the room, he saw Cullen walking toward him with the two mysterious men that Bones saw talking with Cullen when she arrived.


	14. Safe

**_Safe _**

"Booth," Cullen asked as he approached Booth.

"Yes sir?" Until that moment, Booth looked toward both men.

"Sir, what is happening here? Why are the undersecretary of the secret service and the deputy director of the US Marshals here?" Booth asked.

"Your movement to the secure place was organized as an interagency cooperation," Cullen said calmly.

"But why?"

"Booth, we need to keep you safe. I need help outside of the bureau to move you and to keep you and your family safe. That is why I asked for help from other agencies."

"We are now in control of your security and safety," one of the men said, he was rather short but he turned out to be the deputy director of the US Marshals. "We already agreed on the secret location."

The conversation was cut as Cullen received a phone call. After ending the call, Cullen called for the doctors and the nurses to come into the room.

"Well Booth, it's time. I hope to see you really soon son, take care of yourself."

"Thanks sir, for everything."

"Where is Bones? She left early this morning and she didn't come back."

"She must be at the lab. She will be fine son, don't worry. I ordered security for her and the squints."

"Please sir, take care of her. I will never for… give…myself... if ... some thing…"

Booth closed his eyes as the sedative immediately took effect. As soon as the doctors were quite sure he was asleep, they began to remove all the lines and machines that were still attached to him. Twenty minutes later, Booth was lying in a stretcher on the roof of the hospital, waiting for the helicopter. As soon as the helicopter arrived, the nurses ran with him to the helicopter. Booth was asleep so he didn't see that inside the helicopter was Parker in the loving arms of his Bones.

-0-0-0

Booth woke up in a warm, cozy bed. He could hear the beep of his heart monitor that was sitting at his side. He was sure that he was still in a hospital, but wasn't sure where. He felt a slight movement by his left side and he opened his eyes, and a huge smile formed on his lips. Parker was cuddled at his side with one of his arms around his chest and the other around a teddy bear that Booth had never seen before. The teddy bear was dressed in a dark suit with a white shirt and red and yellow polka dotted tie, and an FBI jacket. Booth laughed at the resemblance of the bear to him.

He stayed in the same position looking around the "hospital" room. It was extraordinarily bright especially with the sun light piercing the windows. He was surrounded by many monitors, IV lines, oxygen tanks, but the appearance was not like a hospital room. The walls were a light gray blue color, and the bed spread was blue, grey and cream. Also, there were no bright neon lights over his head that had caused so many headaches in the other hospital. Also, the bed was not like those in the hospital. This one was really comfortable, and he had several comfortable fluffy pillows supporting his head and back. He was feeling a bit tired of staying in the same position, and as his back began to hurt, he tried to move a little without waking Parker. He almost succeeded when he felt a back pain that make him stop moving and grimace in agony. He tried to muffle his sounds of pain, but Parker woke up, and saw his father's tears. He reached his tiny hand up to his father's face and slowly wiped the tears away.

"Daddy, are you okay?" Parker asked with a face full of concern toward his dad.

"Bud, it's just my back," he said, trying to force a smile to his face. He didn't want Parker to ever see him in pain, and as hard as he tried, he couldn't mask the pain he was feeling at that moment.

"Stay here, I will go find a nurse," Booth nodded and watched Parker exiting the room running. By now, he had remembered that he had been moved to a more secure location, away from his friends, away from her. A single tear ran down his cheeks as he imagined her standing alone over a body, imagining what she was thinking. He had just abandoned her. The one thing he had promised her he would never do. He couldn't imagine what she was feeling. He closed his eyes as he saw a nurse entering his room.

"Good morning."

Booth just tried to smile, but his back pain was killing him.

"You may want to sit up a little. You have to be tired of lying in the same position." Booth nodded in agreement.

"Okay, let me get some help to move you and then I can check your back. Is that okay with you?"

"Yes," Booth said his voice weak from the pain.

A few minutes later, Booth heard the steps of some people entering his room. There was a nurse and two men in military uniform. The three of them helped Booth sit up a little and change his position on the bed. The nurses took a look at his back and took a sponge and some medication.

"You just tore some of the stitches in your lower back and there's some blood," Booth was thankful as she injected some kind of medication into his wound that eased his pain while she repaired the stitches. When she finished her work, she explained that she put some temporary strip stitches in and covered his wound. He thanked her, and slowly lay back against the pillows again. The nurse stayed with him for nearly 15 minutes while she finished his examination.

"Where is my son?"

"I think he is in his room. Do you want something to eat?"

"No thanks. Can you find him?"

"Yes."

The nurse exited the room and Booth relaxed himself. His son was with him.  
A few minutes later, Booth had his eyes closed when he heard Parker talking with someone familiar.

"Its okay, you win. We have to stay with daddy, until he falls asleep, then we can finish our game."

"Okay! It's a deal."

Booth could recognize that voice anywhere…

"Bones…" As he said her name she walked inside his room with a big smile on her lips, holding Parker in her arms.

"Did you miss me?"

He didn't answer. The huge smile on his face said it all.


	15. Surprises

_Again, sorry for the delay on the new chapter. I'm still at work, so i will try and post a new one later, but not promises there. Thanks for all the comments about the story. Thanks to Ludva29 for the editing, and for Bookwormlady, i'm still waiting for the next chapter, poor Booth must be a popcicle by now._

**_Surprises_**

"How?" He asked in complete shock of seeing her standing there with his son in her arms.

"I will tell you later. How are you feeling? Park told me that you are in pain?" she asked as she lowered Parker to the floor.

"It's my back, but I'll survive."

"Daddy, did you want something to eat? It's almost noon. We already ate breakfast, but you were sleeping so we couldn't wait for you." Booth looked at Brennan and smiled as he heard his son's explanations.

"Do you think you could find some pudding for me?"

"Yea! I will go to the kitchen. Wait for me." Parker exited the room running.

Both of them waited until Parker was out of earshot. By now, Brennan was sitting on his bed with him. "How much did I sleep?" Booth asked, rubbing his eyes.

"Well, we got out of the hospital at 4 in the afternoon yesterday and right now its 11:45 so you were asleep for about 16 hours."

"Wow. What did they give me?"

"They sedated you in the hospital, and then again during the flight."

"But why?"

"Apparently the nurse gave you a small dose and the effect was wearing off and you were moving around a lot, so they gave you another shot, just to keep you calm so you wouldn't hurt yourself."

"Okay. How did you know?"

"Cullen told me that they would be sending you to a secure place."

"But…"

"They made me the offer that I could come with you. And I accepted."

"Why?"

"Do you think this was a mistake?" She asked worried. 'It was a mistake,' she thought silently to herself, panicking 'He doesn't want me here. I'm such an idiot.'

"Hey, it wasn't a mistake. I was just surprised, that's all. I love that you are here with me, with my son. I'm just very surprised that Cullen offered you to come with me."

"He told me that I'm your family too. So here I am."

"But your work?"

"It's okay. I called in the morning and asked Cam if I could take a sabbatical for awhile, so my job will be waiting for me, and Cullen will have a meeting with the director of the Jeffersonian later this week to explain the situation."

"Are you sure?"

"I've never been surer of anything in my entire life, and if I lose my job I really don't care. I prefer to be here with you and Parker than in a lab. I would be lost without you."

She kissed him slowly on the lips. "I don't want to be without you anymore. I can't imagine my life without you. I almost lost you twice in less than a year, and it made me evaluate our relationship."

"Bones I don't…"

"Seeley, I know that you drew a line a long time ago, but to be sincere, that line doesn't exist anymore. As a matter of fact, I doubt that it even existed in the first place. I love you, and I will defend this love."

"You love me?"

"Yes, I love you, and I don't care if we have to defend it, I will. Forever."

Booth was going to answer her, but Parker entered his room running with a chocolate pudding and a spoon in his hands. "The nurse said that she will bring you some real food in a while. But you can have this now."

"Ok bud, thanks."

Neither Bones nor Booth knew where they stood at that point, their conversation cut off by Parker's presence.

Booth still wasn't sure where they were. It appeared to be a military base, but they weren't sure since no one was allowed to exit the house. The nurse told them that in the afternoon, someone would come to talk to them, so they were waiting patiently.

As if on cue, 6 military uniform men entered the room. Booth smiled at him as he recognized them.

"Sgt. Major Booth," the man said saluting him with a huge smile on his face.

"At ease," Booth said smiling to him.

"How are you, James?" Booth asked.

"Fine, sir. And you?"

"I've been better. Oh, James, this is Dr. Temperance Brennan, and this sleepy head," he said motioning to Parker who was asleep on the bed beside him, "is my son Parker."

"Nice to meet you, ma'am."

"Nice to meet you, too."

"Well Agent Booth, this is the deal. You are in Ft. Benning, GA."

"It can't be," Booth said with a huge amazed expression on his face.

"Booth what happened?" Bones asked, worried about his expression.

"You are kidding me James right, I can't be in Ft. Benning."

"You are." James responded immediately.

"But I don't understand," Booth remained silent for a few seconds, and then remembered the last conversation with Cullen and a huge smile appeared on his lips.

"When I enlisted in the army this was the first base that I was assigned to. As a matter of fact, I went through all of my training here," Booth told Brennan to help her understand the amusement in his face. Bones understood immediately his mixed expression and feelings.

"Well, we have orders that you are to remain here until you are in fit condition, or the persons responsible are in custody."

"So I will have to be 100% to leave here?" Booth asked trying to understand the orders completely.

"That's the general idea. You know that you won't be 100% for awhile, right?" James asked looking discretely to his feet.

"I know."

"Also, your son will be attending the school in here, so he won't fall behind. The teachers had been notified of the situation so they can protect Parker. They have specific instructions regarding him."

"Thanks."

"You will receive medical attention around the clock. A nurse had been assigned to you. Also a doctor will came here every day to monitor your health. As you remember, we have a hospital here, so you will not have to leave the base for any reason. If you want something, you just have to ask."

"James, does that mean that we are on house arrest?"

"For the moment, yes. We have to be completely sure that you are secure here, and then we can let you move inside the base. You will have new identities while you're here."

After James explained all the details to them, both felt calm about the situation. Only the three persons in charge of the operation knew the actual location of Booth, Parker and Brennan, and James assured them that after a week, they would be allowed to contact Cullen using a computer, but that would have to wait until they could be completely sure that the line they were using was secure. After James left, Bones got into the bed with both Booth boys.

"Booth, how do you feel about being here?"

"It's strange. I never thought I'd be back here. But I'm pretty sure that this was Cullen's idea."

"Why do you say that?"

"He knew about my military background. I think that he sent me here for a reason."

"Well, how are you feeling?"

"Tired."

"Well I will leave so you can rest."

Brennan was getting up when he grabbed her hand. "Who told you that I want you to leave?"

She smiled back at him and returned to her previous spot on the bed.


	16. Coming Home

_All right, this is the last chapter (or at least is the last one i had written for this story). I hope you like it. Thanks for all your replies and for the messages, you really make me smile a lot, and make me want to continue writting. Thanks again for everything. And for Felicia, thanks a lot for your help._

_**Coming Home**_

The process of recovering was really slow for Booth's taste. He was driven into the hospital once a week to perform tests and then they would drive him back. Usually they did it when Parker was at school in the mornings, so he wouldn't be scared.

The doctors explained to both of them that the drugs they gave him had diminished his ability to recover as fast as he did before, but they were confident that the effects would be reduced with the passing of time.

Two months after his rescue, Booth could finally free his arm of his cast and he could finally move freely as the casts were also removed from his leg and feet. When he saw his legs and his feet, he cringed at the sight. It was a painful reminder of what was to come. The doctors told him he could only be on his feet for a certain amount of time, and they could only hold a certain amount of weight. But he was painfully aware of that fact.

Bones was with him during all of his appointments, and was there during the first appointment with his physical therapist. Booth was lying on his back on a stretcher. He looked sadly at his wheelchair, his permanent companion these days.

"Hey, it's going to be okay," Bones said rubbing small circles on his scalp.

"I know that, it's just that starting all this again is bringing back so many memories."

Bones kissed him on the forehead and smiled as he focused on her bright blue eyes.

"Well, well, well. I never expected to see you back here, Seeley." Booth just laughed when he spotted his physical therapist entering the room.

"Well Robert, I wish it was under different circumstances," Booth shook the man's hand.

"Yeah, I now."

"Robert, this is Dr. Temperance Brennan. Bones, this is a old friend Roberto James." Bones smiled warmly to the man in front of her while shake his hand.

After a small conversation in which Robert tried to ease Booth's tension, the exam began. He moved his finger along Booth's feet. Booth's eyes were closed tightly as Robert was examining his feet. Bones remained by his head, rubbing his forehead, trying to ease his obvious pain and discomfort. Robert hurried his exam, noticing the Booth's discomfort and knew that this time the recovery was going to be more painful than the last and his recovery time would be greater.

Booth let out a breath when he felt Robert put his feet on the exam table again and put on his socks.

"I have seen your x-rays Seeley, and I'm convinced that with intense therapy and time you will be on your feet in no time."

"But…" Booth interrupted knowing that there was something else. He didn't become a Special Agent of the FBI without his gut feeling.

"The damage to your feet is greater than before. When you re-open a fracture, usually it becomes more damaged, and this is what happened here. You still have some sensitive points on your feet that alarm me. I can say that you still have some small fractures that aren't completely healed."

Booth looked into Bone's face and knew that this was not the news they were expecting.

"I won't put your feet into a cast if that is what you are going to ask," Robert hurried to say, noticing the deathly glare Booth was giving him.

"I will began with your therapy as I had already planned, in a month, but, and there is a big BUT, if I see that your pain level increase, I will stop therapy until the fractures are completely healed. Is that understood?" Robert asked in his military tone and Bones had to smile as Booth agreed silently. Robert then helped him sit on the table and then help move him to his awaiting wheelchair.

"Your therapy will start in a month. You can still do some exercises on your own if you feel that you can tolerate them, but I advise you to wait. You could re-injure your feet again." Robert gave them a few instructions and some pain meds and then they left.

Both of them knew that the next few months would be hell for him. Brennan knew how hard it had been on him before, and it would be even worse this time.

Six months had passed since they arrived at the military base. Booth was still recovery slowly, but he was about 60% healed. Brennan had accepted work in a nearby morgue for a few hours daily. She had to admit that is was kind of a depressing place, nothing like the lab, but otherwise she felt like her usual self. Beside, Cullen send them information of some of the cases the Jeffersonian were working so they can help them.

Parker was going to school, and to Booth he seemed even happier than at home in DC. The military police would pick him up everyday from the house at 7:30 and bring him back at noon. During this time Booth would go practice in an old range that was near the house and he would do some exercises for therapy. He still spent most of his time in the wheelchair outside the home.

He went to the practice range every other day and returned to the house tired and in pain. But he was getting better. The first time he tried to shoot, the gun fell from his hands. But now, he was able to shoot a sniper rifle. James had helped him with the arms and the munitions, since part of the instructions was to help him return to his work, but Booth decided to train as if he were going to work as a sniper. Booth had met some of his previous trainers while in the range, and they admitted that he was one of the best snipers they had seen, if not the best.

During that day, Booth received a call from James that he would be meeting them in the afternoon. Booth and Brennan were all smiles when James told them that the responsible were captured and were in jail. Cullen had told both of them that they had two suspects and had gathered enough evidence. Both of them were happy to be able to return to their previous lives. They decided to wait until Parker finished the school year to return. So after another month, they were landing in a private airfield in the eastern part of Virginia.

"Agent Booth!" Cullen said, happy to see them as he spotted them walking from the airplane. Booth was walking with the help of a cane to redistribute his weight, and have some type of walking cast in his left feet. Cullen noticed that he was thinner than when he was an active agent, but seemed healthier than the last time he saw him.

"Sir." Cullen hugged his agent tightly.

"Booth, I'm so happy that you are all alright."

"Me too sir."

Cullen had to admit, that outside of the job, Booth looked more relaxed than he had ever seen him before. All of them entered into the SUV and headed an undisclosed location. An hour later, Booth was looking into a two story house.

"Where are we?" Brennan asked Cullen as she saw the house.

"You are staying here."

"But why?" Brennan asked, really worried.

"After you all disappeared, we cleaned out both of your residences. All your things were kept in a private storage. So when we were completely sure that you were returning, we found a new place for both of you."

"What about our apartments?" Brennan asked.

"Since both places are rented, we called the owners and cancelled the contracts. If you don't like the house, you can get a new place, but for now you will stay here, until the trial ends."

Booth had to admit that he was happy with the new house. To be completely sincere, he didn't want to return to his apartment. He didn't want to remember what happened there the last time. All of them were happy as they found all their things were inside the house, including Parker's. He also loved the new place. It was really comfortable and was big enough for him to maneuver himself without bumping into the walls, since sometimes his walking was sort of tipsy. The house had 4 rooms on the second floor and two bathrooms. On the first floor was a library, a living room, family room, dining room and kitchen.

Cullen waited until they saw the house to have a brief meeting with them. Parker was in the backyard playing so the grown ups could talk in private.

"Okay, as you both know we have the two men responsible for your kidnap in custody. They both pled guilty so they are awaiting their sentences. A third one was caught inside the FBI. I must said that your squints did a hell of investigation to find him."

Booth let out a laugh and looked toward the ceiling and let go a heavy sight.

"We didn't imagine that there were someone inside the Bureau, but Jack had been doing some investigation inside the Bureau and had two person on his hot list. HE was caught when Jack set a trap with some of yourBureau friends telling that you had awaken. He tried to "kill you" on the hospital, but this time we had several cameras inside the room, so he is going to jail." Cullen said and smile, as he can see the relieve in both of them.

"Dr. Brennan, you can return to work as soon as you want. Just have to call the director before going back. The personnel were informed that you decided to take some time for personal issues. In your case Agent Booth, the Bureau knows about your situation, so they were informed that you were in a coma, and since the last issue in the hospital, the office decided to restrict the visitors. You still are in not fit condition to began field work, but you are more than welcome to began to work in desk duty." Cullen saw that Booth was going to argue and rise his hand to stop him.

"I got a proposition for you Agent Booth. Agent Frank retired a month ago, and his position is available. Well, sort of." Cullen saw the question in Booth face and smiled. "I put your name as a recommended to the position and the board approved it, so if you accept is yours."

Booth smiled widely at the offer. A year ago he will gone nut with a proposition like this and refuse to accept it, but since he knew that he wont be approved to do field work, he had decide to apply for another office position.

"are you sure sir?" Booth asked with reluctance.

"I'm Booth. I want you to take that position. True, you will be off field work, but I truly believe that the Bureau will benefit from your knowledge. Also you still will remain as a liaison with the Jeffersonian and remain with Dr. Brennan as partner, but your part will be more administrative. You will have a agent that will do the field work part."

Booth looked into Bones eyes and smiled. They had talk about him leaving field work. After a talk with one of his doctors, they agree that he could endangered himself with the type of field work he does. And it was certain that he will suffer from arthritis on his feets.

Cullen saw their looks and smile. Appaerntly they were on their way to be together. IF something good could result as the results of all this

ordeal was that they two of them get together and start a family.

"Sir, I accept. I will be honor to occupy the post of MCU director." Cullen shake Booth hand and smile.

"What about you Dr. Brennan. Did you will continue doing field work without Agent Booth?"

Bones smiled and turn her sight from Booth to Cullen. "I will continue working in conjuction with the FBI, but I will remain in the lab. I have a few additional things in my life now, that require all my time and attention."

Cullen gave Booth a knowing smile and Booth felt his face becoming red.

"What about our friends and family?" Booth asked. "I mean, what happen with them and did they know where we are?"

"They are all okay and they will be informed when you two are ok with it. But I must inform you Booth that Rebecca married Drew and moved to Ohio two months ago. She informed the office since she had security on her."

"What will happen with Parker?" Bones took Booth hand and squeeze it. Neither of them want to loose the little boy that had gave them so much peace during the last months. Neither of them had contemplate a life with out him on it.

"Nothing Booth. You still have custody of the boy, he will stay with you. Further plans regarding his visitations and such will be handled between you and Rebecca." Booth was happy that Parker was going to stay with him. He had accustomed himself on having both of them with him all the time, and by now he was scared to lose him. In Bones' case, they had decided to continue with their relationship.

"Sir, we have to tell you something before anything else happens."

"And that will be?" Cullen gave them a knowing smile.

"Well, as I understand everything will remain sort of as the last time. But sir, you must know that, well," Booth was trying to tell him about the change in their relationship, but he was unable to say it. Brennan and Cullen smiled at his nervousness.

"Well sir, the thing is that Booth and I are a couple now. And we were wondering if this will change anything in our partnership, or rather the new relationship that he will be having with the Jeffersonian." Brennan said finally after Booth continued to stammer.

"Well, that's huge, but I must say, that there won't be any changes in your current situation as partners, at least if both of you maintain your personal lives separate from the professional."

"But sir, we think that you must separate us."

"Why, Booth?"

"Because of the internal policy about relationships between co-workers."

"That's a valid point Booth, but the thing is that Dr. Brennan in not a bureau employee. It's true that she works in a partnership with the FBI, but since she works for the Jeffersonian, there will be no issues regarding it."

"Thank you," Brennan said happily.

"I must get back to the bureau. I will expect you in the office Monday morning, Director Booth."

"I'll be there sir. And thanks again for everything."

"No problem Booth, it was my pleasure. By the way, you will be reporting to the range on Monday. I hope you are prepared for it."

"I am sir. I had plenty of training time during my recovery."

"I believe it Booth, I really do."

After saying goodbye to both of them, Cullen exited the house. Booth pulled Brenan by the waist and kissed her softly on the neck. They were looking out as Parker played in the backyard.

"I love this Booth, I want to keep the house."

"Me too sweetie, me too. And by the way, welcome home."

Brennan turned on her feet to face him and began running her arms around his neck and she kissed him fully on the lips. After pulling apart, Booth smiled at Brennan and hugged her, rubbing small circles in the still flat stomach with a smile on both of their faces.

"I love you Tempe."

"I love you too, Seeley. Now, let's go out and play with our son before we end up doing things that we should not do in front of a kid." Booth nodded and opened the back door for her, as she exited the house and ran toward Parker to play with him. Booth remained on the wooden deck, watching in silence as his son and his girlfriend played together and thanking God, that however it was that he survived through the torture and the pain, everything was a blessing, because now he had what he always wanted. A family.


End file.
